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Investigators continued their search for the source of the Salmonella saintpaul outbreak that has sickened hundreds of people in 43 states and set off a consumer scare that cost the produce industry more than $200 million. At least 252 people were hospitalized and two people have died.

Federal investigators say they identified the source of the contamination in serrano peppers grown on a farm in Tamaulipas, the Mexican state that borders South Texas. They also found traces of the elusive bacteria in irrigation water collected from the same farm. The contamination of the peppers could have started when they were harvested in Mexico or on their way to be distributed, to McAllen, Texas.

However, investigators still suspect that tainted tomatoes were involved at first, although they say fresh tomatoes now on the market are safe.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a warning to consumers against eating fresh serrano peppers.

FDA Assistant Commissioner David Acheson said that the initial reported illnesses were �statistically linked to consumption of raw tomatoes.� But they may never be able to prove it.

The FDA warned consumers nationwide June 7 to avoid raw red plum, red Roma, and round red tomatoes because of the possible contamination. Later the FDA warned consumers to avoid all fresh jalape�os.

As a result, farmers criticized the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention over their response on the situation. �From the very beginning, it was clear to us that FDA was not sharing important information with state regulators,� Florida Agricultural Commissioner Charles Bronson testified. Many industry representatives complained their loss had reached no less than $300 million and, more than that, they had to dump tons of healthy tomatoes just because of the government warnings.

David Acheson admitted that the FDA didn�t accomplish its mission to keep states informed, �it appears we didn�t share enough with them,� Dr. Archenson said. �I wish they had come to us loud and clear.�

�This lack of coordination likely made a bad situation worse, slowing the investigation and resulting in unnecessary harm to industry as well as the public health,� said Rep. Bart Stupak (D., Mich.), chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee�s investigations panel, according to The Wall Street Journal.

In addition, the Mexican Agriculture Ministry�s director of food health, Mr. Enrique Sanchez said that the sample took by investigators was �not scientifically valid in any part of the world.� Sanchez said that in the case of tomatoes, the FDA �made a serious error.�

�Now they are committing another big mistake because of their incompetence,� he added. But the FDA rejected the claim that US investigators have failed to identify irrigation water at a Mexican pepper farm as the source of the contamination. One of the Mexican officials� questions for the Food and Drugs Administration agency was why they decided to look into Serrano and jalape�os peepers only in early July. The FDA�s explanation was that the process of identifying the source of the contamination was slowed down because there wasn�t any system that followed the path of fresh food products from their producers to the consumers.

"We are surprinsed and disapointed by the statements of the Mexican gevernment," the FDA said in a statement.